You may think you need a professional when it comes to staining kitchen cabinets. Think again because you’re well on your way to teaching yourself how to stain kitchen cabinets with these simple guidelines.
Before you decide on staining the kitchen cabinets, it would be wise to see what exactly you plan to accomplish in your kitchen: Do you have plans to reface your kitchen? Do you have new cabinets installed? Then you need to take them out and stain them. Or do you have an old set of cabinets that need re-staining? Whatever the case may be, staining kitchen cabinets should be easier than you think.
How to stain kitchen cabinets?
Sanding
The first step in staining kitchen cabinets is to thoroughly sand the cabinet. The problem with not doing a good job of sanding the cabinets is that it takes a lot more effort to do it after you’ve stained your cabinets. Any marks you leave out during sanding will stand out in the staining process. Therefore, it makes sense to do the sanding as carefully as possible.
You can use 150 or 200 grit sandpaper to do this after you have removed your drawers and doors and any hardware accessories such as handles, etc. Remember to lay the cabinets and drawers flat before staining so that the stain does not run.
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It is also a good idea to buy a body apron, rubber gloves, and some cardboard to keep the stain off yourself and the surroundings, for example. When removing hardware, be sure to label them individually so you know what goes where. Make sure that your marks on the kitchen cabinet are not visible or visible after the staining process is completed.
Safety first
Safety is an important component of the staining process when it comes to kitchen cabinets. It may go unnoticed but stains tend to have dangerous fumes in them. These fumes are capable of causing an explosion, so you need to be very careful when using them. Be sure to use them in well-ventilated rooms like the garage with the door wide open.
You also need to buy a professional stain/painting mask as a regular dust mask is only useful during the sanding process. Be very careful to avoid contact with the stains, particularly your hands. Once it is on your hands or any other part of your body, it can be removed with acetone. However, this doesn’t work all the time – it’s like removing stains from laundry. If there is no acetone handy, you can use nail polish remover, which contains acetone.
Also, it is wise to wear clothes that you can throw away once the stain job is done. Once you are ready to begin the process of staining the kitchen cabinets, be sure to shake the can in which the stain or the color will accumulate at the bottom and give you an uneven stain.
The actual process of staining kitchen cabinets
Kitchen cabinets can be easily stained if you use leftover carpet pieces that are 3×4 inch rectangles. You can dip the side of the carpet in the can of stain and then work into the wood. Although many manufacturers recommend leaving the stain on for 10 minutes, there is usually little benefit to doing so. If the stain is left for too long, it will leave a smudge on the wood. Therefore, it is smart to wipe the stain after it has been stained. This ensures that your kitchen cabinet looks like a professional job. The point is to make it as attractive as possible without paying for a kitchen decorator. With some common sense, you can make kitchen cabinet stains look like they were professionally stained.
The last step in staining is to dry your kitchen cabinets. If the cabinets are already installed, they can be left alone to dry. Remember not to turn on a fan to facilitate drying. It is best to give the drying process enough time to complete naturally.
